Friday, February 13, 2009

Poorcasting

The picture above comes from cotrip.org and is from a camera on I-76 near Sterling. This is what the current article on 9news.com, updated by Ashton "Pees Sitting Down" Altieri himself, reads:

The northeastern Plains of Colorado will see widespread snow through late Friday morning. Locations such as Sterling, Julesburg, Akron, and Holyoke are under a WINTER STORM WARNING until noon for a total of 4 to 8 inches of snow. Wind gusts over 20 mph will create blowing and drifting snow. Travel could become difficult along Interstate 76 east of Fort Morgan.

Here are some other shots from the Northeast portion of our state:

Wiggins

Briggsdale

Not good . . . unless 4-8 inches comes down within the next hour, I'd say this forecast was an outright dud. And the people are none too pleased about it if the comments on the 9news story are any indication:

I live in a area that was predicted 4-8 inches, and NOT 1 snow flake. I will never forget what I learned in middle school. A teacher once said that 80% will get you through school, but 80% in the working world will set you up for many failures. (Ed. note - I have no idea what this means)

Not a flake in Arvada---only flakes are in the 9NEWS weather department---

And it's probably not fair just to single out 9News, because it seems everyone missed the boat. Probably because they all look at the exact same models and not a one of them is ever willing to go out on a limb and be an individual. Why wouldn't take a chance at this point? It's not like they're ever reprimanded for being wrong anyway.